A Cleric's Journey
by Grundolf Gunderson
Summary: Grundolf Gunderson, a cleric of Tymora, comes back to the world of the living after being trapped in a stasis field for fifty years. These are his adventures, in ancient Egypt and the Forgotten Realms AD&D setting, with many movie and game references. Ple
1. The Blunder

My name is Grundolf Gunderson. I am from the citadel four years to the south of Rhem. I am a cleric of Tymora and a thief of hearts, minds, and purses. I started to adventure when I was rather young and naive. It was because of this that I was trapped in a magical stasis for many years. It is also the reason I am hunted. This is my story.  
  
CHAPTER I: THE BLUNDER  
  
I started my career like any other person those days. I dreamed of becoming rich and famous and never having to lift a finger for myself. Times began to change and so did the country. I found my family living in poverty when I was raised in a wealthy society. My mother, who was the treasurer for the citadel, came to me with a very important task. She wanted me to seek riches in hard currency, gems and artifacts, to re- establish the society we were all used to. I did not leave on my quest alone. I was given two escorts. (I shall not reveal their names, for you see, they were dumber than rocks, and even rocks have names.) We traveled many long weeks to the mountains in the north.  
  
When we arrived, the escorts got a bit shaken up by what they had seen. It seems that the rumors of the past citadel leaving a stronghold were true. But, I was not the type to pay attention in history class. If I would have, I would not be over 50 years older than every elf born the same year as me. I entered the stronghold, only to find that all the booby- traps from the days of old had already been set off. I made my way deeper into the catacombs, only to stop every 5 meters to goad my escorts into coming along with me. If only I was as afraid of the past as they were.  
  
I followed the tunnel into the darkness. It soon opened up into a vast room with gold and gems as far as the eye could see. I searched for any traps that might not have been set off, and not seeing any, I continued on my way. I stopped like I usually had to for my escorts. When I turned around, they were looking at me as if I had turned to stone. Well, they were not too far off from the truth. In my own ignorance, I forgot to search for magical traps, and in the process, I was trapped in a stasis field for over 50 years.  
  
Time spent in stasis is very informative. With this particular spell, I was still conscience to the world around me and could see everyone and all the mistakes they made. One group was rather stupid. As far as the makeup of races, I couldn't begin to tell you how awful that was. These guys made the drow of yester-year look halfway intelligent. They spent a good 6 hours trying to figure out how to get to the end of the stasis field to turn it off. Well, being that I was in there for quite some time, I was able to figure out the puzzle. It seems that in this room, there was a rather large pole arm, probably that of a giant or other large creature, which reached from one end of the room to the other. All one had to do was pick up the pole arm, and touch the button on the other side of the room. That's it. Well, these guys tried everything. Before I knew what was going to happen next, all but two of them were trapped in the stasis field with me. Of course, I am thinking to myself that I am never going to get out of here, and that I will go crazy before I see the light of day again. Soon, the other two had figured out that the pole arm was the "key." It only took them two days to get that one.  
  
When I was released from stasis, the first thing I did was drawing my mace and say, "Who the hell are you?" Of course, they all try to act nicey- nice to me. Well, I was not going to fall for that. I wanted answers, and I wanted them now. One of them finally spoke up. He was an elf, about the only one that I would trust at the moment. He said, "My name is Razadime Lee. And this fellow on my right is my cousin, Greymist." I bowed as was the custom of my homeland, and surprisingly, they bowed back. At that moment, I realized that these two were the only ones that had any brains in the whole group. "The others that you see are J.J., Drake, and Sarcomus," said Greymist.  
  
J.J. was an elf, as well, but there was something rather strange about him. Not only did he have a demon arm, but also he had a parrot on his shoulder and a bad habit of talking to his short sword. He would say things like, "I can't kill him now, we just met." He frightened me just a bit, but he was not the biggest of my worries. Drake, who was of the giant- folk as we called them back home, was the worst. Not only did he tower over me, but also at the time when I left home, it was his people we were at war with. Sarcomus was just someone that I would not want to meet in a dark alley on the eve of a feast holiday. He was a half-orc, and I could see he was not looking at me, but at my ears. Every time I looked in his direction, I saw him wiping the drool from his chin or licking his chops.  
  
Since I had nothing better to do, I said I would be willing to travel with them if they allowed me first search of the cavern. There was one particular spot I had my eye on when I entered the room, and if it had not been for the stasis trap, I would have gotten to it. They agreed, but of course, Drake started to throw a fit over the agreement. He said, "We were here before he was. We should get the first pick!" I said to him, "You are worried that I am going to take all those jewels over there for myself, aren't you?" "Yeah, what's your point?" "My point is, you can have all the jewels you want over there." I said this to him because I had gotten a closer look at them when I was waiting for his party to get back on their feet. It turns out every one of the gems were cut glass. The thing I had my eye on was a chest in a sinkhole, about 3 feet from were I was in stasis. I made my way over to the chest as Drake was drooling over the glass gems.  
  
Within my booty, was my most prized possession, though I didn't know what fate had in store for me. It was a silver mace with about ten gems; real ones, not glass. Evidently, someone had hidden this mace within the cavern for future use. On further examination, I found this to be an unenchanted mace, ready to be filled to the brim with spells. I had Greymist help me with the enchantments, but we were unable to bring the mace to its full potential. But, Blaster has never let me down, yet.  
  
With the new mace came much responsibility. Blaster came with a ring, as well. With this ring on my wielding hand, no one else can use my mace. Sort of like an anti-theft device; ideal for someone like me. I also received a curse with the mace. It seems that when the enchantment was complete, it awoke a great evil. My mother used to tell stories of a being so evil that no one could see him. He would come through entire villages, killing all little children that would not obey their parents when they told them to go to bed. I thought she was just making the whole thing up. Unfortunately, I was wrong once again. He was real, and the scary part was he was looking for me. Why me, you ask? The hell if I know!!! Maybe someone in the heavens had it out for me. I don't know! But I knew this "Hidden One" was after me, I would be on the run for the rest of my life. If only I would have read the warning label in the chest. 


	2. Trials of the Hidden One

CHAPTER II: TRIALS OF THE HIDDEN ONE  
  
Some months had passed since I was released from stasis. I had gotten a chance to get to know the fools I was traveling with. It turns out Razadime was a ranger and a cleric of Solonor Thelandira. The amazing part was Razadime never used holy water. He would just relieve himself on the unholiness before him and say a prayer as he did it, blessing his own bodily fluids. The really amazing thing was his god didn't smite him down for being so lewd and demented. I still can't believe that Greymist was his cousin, and was willing to admit it!  
  
Speaking of Greymist, he was a grey elf, the same as Razadime, if I might add. He was a rather clever mage, for his age, of course. The time that he spent in the lab was just as bad as I did in the lavatory. I never saw him working on new spells, or trying to figure out a problem. He always seemed to have a solution for everything. This got me to thinking that maybe, just maybe, he was in cahoots with the Hidden One. Other than that, the guy seemed all right by me. His father on the other hand, was a nut case. He always had something up his sleeve.  
  
J.J. was not much help to our quest. He was always arguing with his sword, parrot, one night stand, or god. He seemed to have a new woman every time I turned around. It was almost like traveling with a gigolo, but he always managed to piss off the woman before he could get anywhere. And then he would write these horrific ballads about her, saying things like "she was the most beautiful woman in the world," but he said that about every woman!  
  
Drake still had me worried. As we were traveling one day, I was talking with Greymist and Razadime, and the two of them told me the citadel I came from was destroyed about 45 years ago by the giant-folk. It turns out the Hidden One had hired the entire race to wipe out the citadel and take it for his throne. I got to thinking about all this, and when we were held up in a town for a couple of days (J.J. was off looking for a former love), I went and did some research in the local archives. It turns out Drake was the son of the chief to the giant-folk, meaning it was his father that gave the orders for every elf in the city to be burned alive. When I read this, my heart was filled with horror, and my mind with images of my mother and sister being burned to a crisp, just for spite. From that day on, I made it my mission to make Drake's life a living hell.  
  
Sarcomus, the half-orc, was also royalty. He was actually at the battle of the citadel when the giant-folk overran the throne. He was hired by the empire to protect the royal family from harm. If only the kingdom had enough money to save all of my people. How typical of the wealthy only caring about themselves. He and I seemed to get along rather well, despite him making comments like, "When you die, can I have your ears?" That worried me just a bit. I kept thinking in the back of my mind that he was going to kill me in the middle of the night, just so he could have my ears for a midnight snack. Turns out he made that statement to every elf in the party.  
  
As the months passed, we gained a few members, but I will not share their names, just for the sake of time and I don't want to bore you. We ran into many different walks of life throughout our journeys, wanting to follow us. Some we accepted, others we beat to a bloody pulp, and stole their belongings. I know it sounds like a mean thing to do, but when you are starving and you have a half-orc staring at your ears twenty- four/seven, you need to do something.  
  
We traveled about four hundred miles in just one year of being together. For what purpose, I am still not sure, but I can tell you it was a living hell. I'm talking about barbarian tribes, magic-dead areas spanning fifty or more miles, and of course the worst of all: undead. This being the first real journey that I had ever been on, I was not accustomed to fighting undead. But with the help of my goddess, Tymora, I was able to push them back to the depths of hell, where they belonged. Months turned into years; years turned into decades. Still no answer to my question: "Where are we going?"  
  
When we arrived at the port city on the edge of the known continent, I knew that I was quite a distance from any known territories to my kingdom. We made our way to a rumored Lich tower in the area. We never did find the lich, but the Hidden One found us. One by one, he started to bribe us, promising the world and all the power in it on a silver platter. To the best of my knowledge, Razadime was the only one that would not succumb to the wishes of the Hidden One. I was very tempted to follow, but then I had a vision of my mother from beyond the grave.  
  
Her body was burnt from head to toe, flames still in her hair and in her eyes. She looked at me in a way that I would never forget. Her eyes seemed to burn deep into my soul, with the same intensity of her suffering. She told me that my destiny lied along a different path than those I traveled with. I must run far from this place and never look back. I asked, "How can I not look back? Your agony lives with me every day. I feel your pain in my heart as I watch the sun's rise and fall. How can I just forget about my family and how you were killed for just kicks?" "You have a future ahead of you. You must go to the north and seek out those who need your wisdom. Look for the ones in the most common places. Lost souls gather in casks of fear and despair. Find them, and the answer will present itself. Help others in need and we shall be avenged. Do not look back, my son. Do not look back!"  
  
From that moment on, I knew that I was given a second chance on life. That everything happens for a reason. The gods had other plans for me, and they were very far from here. "Run!" said Razadime, as the walls started to fall around me. The two of us made it out alive, but we were scarred for life. Neither of us would forget the events that happened. We went our separate ways, and vowed to meet up at some point before the other passed on. I then began my journey to the north. 


End file.
